Articles and publications

The American court lost jurisdiction

Sometimes life offers you surprises. A father who sued a mother for stealing their child and moving to Russia had just learned that he made a fatal mistake. He filed a petition in new york to have the mother immediately return the child. The mother did not. He then asked the court for custody in of the child and the court issued an order of custody. All he had to do was to hand the mother the custody paper.

However by the time the father handed the custody order to the mother in Russia, the mother filed for a divorce and custody in Russia. The father appeared in Russia by his lawyer to fight the divorce but he lost.

Before the court in New York issued a final custody decision to the father in New York the Russian court issued the custody decision to the mother in Russia.

Guess what? The American court lost jurisdiction, was the decision if the New York judge. The case is closed. Read More »

Action must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction

CONCLUSION
Accordingly, for the reasons set forth above, the court finds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate Plaintiff's claims; even if the court did have jurisdiction, Plaintiff would not be able to overcome Defendants' absolute immunity to suit. Moreover, while courts generally should not dismiss pro se complaints "without granting leave to amend at least once when a liberal reading of the complaint gives any indication that a valid claim might be stated," Cuoco v. Moritsugu, 222 F.3d 99, 112 (2d Cir. 2000), courts may deny plaintiffs the opportunity to amend "when amendment would be futile," Fulton v. Goord, 591 F.3d 37, 45 (2d Cir. 2009). Here, the Complaint provides no indication that Plaintiff has a colorable claim under federal law; further amendment would clearly be futile. See, e.g., Renner, 2013 WL 1898389, at *4. Consequently, Plaintiff's complaint is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. Read More »

Trip to Russia

1. To minimize the risks, I recommend that the father obtain a court order determining the place of residence of the child as with the father and such order shall provide for the mother to have parental access to the child. Such an agreement has full force and effect.

2. Article 32 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation provides that the parties by agreement may stipulate to a jurisdiction where any issue would be tried. This Code applies to all matters, including custodial disputes.

3. You should also add Conflict of Laws provision: the parties agree that even were this matter brought before any court of the Russian Federation, the American Law will apply based on Articles 166 and 167 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, and any dispute relating to enforcement of the agreement will be consistent with this provision.

4. The agreement must reference Articles 61-79 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation.

5. The agreement must also be signed in one day, by both parties simultaneously, and must be notarized by a single notary. It must be stated that each party is represented by his or her lawyer, and the notary must be a third party who is not related to either of the attorneys. There must be apostille and a notarized Russian translation of the agreement. To avoid misinterpretation of agreement (see art 431 of Russian Civil Code), I recommend to sign it in both languages at the same time. Read More »

Russian Citizen Osipova Jailed in US Suffers From Unstable Mental Condition

If convicted, Osipova is facing up to three years in a US federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the international parental child abduction charge. Read More »

Ushakov vs Russia, Case # 15122/17

Karina Duvall was an attorney for the mother (I.K.) in Appellate Division, and won the case on February 3rd, 2016. The father (V.U.) unsuccessfully tried to reverse this order in Cassation Court, and now his attorney filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights. Read More »